Popular beachside bistro The Dell has applied to the Isle of Wight Council to extend the frontage of the building in order to increase the indoor floorspace.
According to plans submitted to the local authority, the extension of the frontage will not protrude from the existing cantilevered roof but will allow for more customers to be seated indoors when the weather is bad.
The plans show that an extra 24 indoor covers could be accommodated across 6 new tables at the front of the building, allowing more customers to be served year-round in a boost for local business.
The bistro currently employs 5 extra part-time staff during the busier Summer season but, should the plans be approved, it could make it a more attractive prospect for Winter punters and therefore create more local jobs.
As well as being a popular daytime spot, the business is also open for dinner reservations on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the Summer.
No no no… I commented on FB. They’ve enough room presently without encroaching and blocking the prom. I can imagine already the snooty looks prosecco drinking patrons will be giving the lovely dog’s and kids that will, quite rightly, be running around enjoying the beach, holiday huts and promenade. That pathway is a public right of way and already there are waiter’s and customer’s backwards and forwards across it. I’m not against the cafe; indeed, their ‘sexy fries’ are delicious,
but no more.. .
Not sure what country you live in, but here in the UK businesses are king and the people are just cattle. Know your place. Don’t you know it’s the Tory way, they’ve sold most of the UK to the EU as it is. An immigrant second generation German family own most of our land. You have no say peasant.
Cheer up.
We’ve left the EU now so you won’t have to worry about Germans taking your land.
It’ll be the Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis, because that’s where most of out record post-Brexit immigration is coming from.
There has been a cafe here since the 1920’s and now as then the tables have been situated either side of the path. The new front will not encroach on the path anymore than it does now so there will be no change. The tables inside will be available for winter trade which is needed there is not enough room inside. All the customers who come to that cafe are lovely and this application will change no part of that.
“According to plans submitted to the local authority, the extension of the frontage will not protrude from the existing cantilevered roof but will allow for more customers to be seated indoors when the weather is bad.”
So how will this block the prom ?
At the moment the people line up in the area where the extension will be. If they cannot do this they will then be lining up on the path, blocking the way for pedestrians. It will not block the path by the sea, but it will force people to use it and not the other path, which means that path will be a lot busier. Will this be a problem ? Maybe not a terrible one, but I for one do not want to be forced to walk on a path not of my choosing.
As you state that you’re a customer, I presume you must also classify yourself as a ‘snooty prosecco drinking patron’ as that’s how you term the cafe’s customers?
And you’re really saying that waiters bringing food to customers at outside tables is a major inconvenience to you? You must spend an awful lot of time walking up and down outside the cafe to be so inconvenienced by the occasional waiter with a tray.
But think on, if you really ARE a customer, as you say, one rainy day you might actually be pleased that they covered over this area and you can sit and have a coffee, or prosecco.
From the above picture, it looks as if this proposal will have absolutely no effect on the public walkway. Unless of course they still keep outside seating which this article doesn’t comment on.
I would like to see more seafront cafes with tables on the pavement. Give the place a more Mediterranean feel to match our future Mediterranean climate. Too many island cafes and restaurants do not have sea views (or any view at all), which is such a shame.
Just make sure there are more toilets on those plans please! One poor girl ended up vomiting in the doorway recently because the ONLY toilet was occupied!!
Think I will give this place a miss if the food causes vomiting!
They already take up too much spae and have occupied the area opposite their cafe, which seems to be extending more and more every year. They still shove their signs in the middle of the path and the customer and staff take up the rest of it as they wander around, ordering or waiting to be seated in a queue. Pushing the front forward more is only going to make this worse. Please, no more of this takeover !
I honestly can’t believe people on here complaining.
There’s several who have said they are inconvenienced by waiters bringing food to customers. If that’s a major problem in your lives then you really do need help.
All the cafe is asking for, as far as I can see, is to enclose the existing area which is currently outside seating. What difference will it make to a local person who perhaps walks past once a week with their dog whether the area is covered or not? It will, no doubt, be of benefit to the cafe who can accommodate more customers on non-sunny days. And, just think, maybe the complainers will actually be able to sit there one day out of the rain.
But no, let’s complain about everything, even if it doesn’t affect you.